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Katherina Selwyn
"Noelle wanted her to be more like Olivia or Lucius? Well, fine, Katherina would gladly be like them. Maybe that way she would teach her stupid, stupid daughter a lesson." : —Katherina in You've Made You Bed Katherina is the eldest daughter of the late William Lestrange and wife of the late Edric Selwyn. A Gryffindor at school, Katherina has always been slightly different from the rest of her Lestrange relatives, but not that much so. The death of her husband left her only son pretty much middle class, after her left the biggest part of his fortune to a bastard. Biography Early Years Katherina was the first daughter born to William Lestrange and the only one for seven years, when her younger sister Olivia was born. Because of that age gap, Katherina was never that close to her two sisters, Olivia and Mariana. The sibling she was closest to was her twin, Sebastian, despite their different genders. Hogwarts In 1842, Katherina and Sebastian begin their first year at Hogwarts, in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw respectively. That makes them both somewhat different from the rest of their relatives, as Lestranges tend to be sorted into Slytherin. Katherina doesn't live up to Gryffindor's reputation of producing trouble-makers, having never even served a detention during her school years. She is succesful academically, in some classes more than others, but never stuggling overly much. Her best class is Potions, which leads her to even take Alchemy in her final two years at Hogwarts. While she never becomes an alchemist, she still knows soem basics to this day. Marriage On her nineteenth birthday, Katherina marries Edric Selwyn. Theirs is an arranged marriage, of which she had been informed of two years prior. Despite the nature of their marriage, though, Kath and Edric were never unhappy. They never really fell in love with each other, but they were ''good friends and Edric was mostly fateful to her save for some sporadic affairs over the years, the longest one with her lady's maid in the period between Michelle and Lucille's deaths, when Katherina's miscarriages had caused something of a rift in their relationship. Despite her fertility issues, Katherina still manages to give Edric five healthy children over the course of fifteen years. Unlike most upper class women, Katherina makes an attempt to be a presence in their life as they grow up. She ''tries ''to remain unbiased towards them, but Nephele is her favourite child, probably because she always felt she was the one needing the most protection. The Noelle Debacle Katherina and Noelle might have never been particularly close as the latter grew up, but they still had a ''pleasant ''sort of relationship. That quickly changes in Noelle's final year at Hogwarts. Katherina and Edric never arranged any matches for their daughters, thinking that they were more than capable of finding husbands themselves. After all, they were Selwyns and Lestranges through their mother, with more than generous dowries and good heads on their shoulders. The only time Katherina had to enterfere in her daughters' marriages was with Nephele's first marriage due to the girl's insecurity and even then Nephele ''mostly ''found her own husband. Noelle, however, was different. After she deliberately created rumours about cavorting around Hogwarts with boys for herself, she does get the betrothal she wanted. She also gets her parents' wrath and Katherina influences her husband to arrange her a match with a ''second son, Mr. Charles Macmillan, whose older brother had been betrothed with Noelle's younger cousin, Ellory Pendergast, thinking it an excellent punishement for her daughter's actions. Noelle is not pleased and continues acting out, which further strains their relationship. Katherina doesn't allow Noelle to attend her coming out ball and sends her to her nephew Orestes' London home instead, in order to be tutored in good behaviour. That seems ineffective, at least in Katherina's opinion and in the end, shortly before the girl is married, Katherina makes her take an Unbreakable Vow with Orestes as the witness The Vows We Made Will Live Until We Die. She has to swear to the following: to act in a grown-up matter and never throw tantrums again, to treat her future husband with respect and to act in a way that wouldn't shame the family both in private and in public. Those are harsh and difficult vows, given Noelle's personality, but Katherina has little sympathy for her. After so many troubles with her youngest, Katherina feels apathetic about her potential death. If she was to die, then it'd be the girl's own fault and she could hardly be blamed for that. Edric's Death In the summer of 1884, like countless others, Edric falls victim of the notorious 'Laughing Plague'. He dies early in August and while his death brings sorrow to the family, it is his will Last Will And Testament of Edric Selwyn that truly shakes the family. Katherina had never been blind, she was often aware of her husband's affairs, even if he tried to keep them hidden, but she still never expected him to leave anything to his bastards. The whole family is shocked to discover that Edric has left two thirds of his enourmous fortune to his bastard son, Edric Slughorn. Kimon, on the other hand, receives only one third and while that is hardly a small sum of money, given the size of the fortune, it is still a lot smaller than he expected and he could easily drop to the middle class if he wasn't careful enough. Katherina herself receives a fair treatment from her husband, receiving a generous annual living and the family manor in Norfolk until the day she dies. Any widow would be more than pleased to be so cared after, but Katherina still feels betrayed by her husband's actions. Her only consolation is that Mr. Slughorn doesn't seem too terrible and she makes an attempt to get to know him. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer and all that. Appearance Despite her height of only five inches, Katherina has always had an imposing sort of appearance. Her hair is lighter than her siblings', but her eyes are a typical Lestrange brown. Katherina can often be seen with a small, 'Mona Lisa' like smirk, as she likes to call it. Despite being in her fifties, Katherina still attempts to remain youthfull. One of her beauty secrets is a potion is brews herself that keeps her hair from turning gray. Personality and Traits Katherina is a clever woman and a good diplomat. Unless you cross her, she is a very pleasant woman. She falls under the 'nice Lestrange' umbrella, though she's hardly Priam. She is also fiercely loyal, though if you lose her loyalty then it's very hard and often impossible to regain it. Despite being sorted into Gryffindor, Kath doesn't lack ambition. The reason she was sorted into Gryffindor was maybe her ability to remain calm and collected even during the most draining and difficult of situations. She is not one to panic and most of the time she can find a quick solution to her problems. Notable Relationships Edric Selwyn Edric and Katherina were never in love, but their marriage was still a happy one while it lasted. The two quickly became friends and they'd share each other everything. Or, well, almost everything, as Katherina was as surprised as everyone else when his will was read. She and Edric shared many similar views and he would often ask for her opinion before taking a decision. In the final years of their marriage, Katherina would often influence her husband when making a decision. In many ways, Edric was more fond of his wife than he ever was to any of his children, though he did share Katherina's protectiveness over Nephele. Noelle Macmillan Despite her being the youngest, Noelle was never Katherina's favourite child. She wasn't her least favourite one either, though. Their relationship only became strained after Noelle started acting out and nowadays, Katherina likes Noelle's husband better than she likes Noelle herself. She doesn't expect Noelle to live a long life, as she's fully expects her to end up doing something wrong and dying from her Unbreakable Vow. Orestes Lestrange Katherina and Orestes have always been close. Despite her being his aunt, the two call each other 'cousin'. Katherina often goes to Orestes when she needs advice and she asked him to be the witness to the Unbreakable Vow between Noelle and herself, rather than any of her siblings or Edric himself (though to be fair, her husband wished to remain out of it). It was this closeness of theirs that caused Kimon's betrothal to Orestes' eldest daughter Frida, though that didn't go as well as planned, as the two became overly close in their letters to the point of Orestes and Katherina putting a stop to it. Nephele Lestrange Katherina's favourite daughter. Nephele was always more quiet and insecure than her siblings, causing Katherina to be quite protective. She always thought that her children could fend for themselves, but to Nephele she was always kind and caring. She helped her find her first husband and become Nephele Thicknesse and after his death she arranged for her to marry her widowed nephew Priam Lestrange. Olivia Pendergast Katherina and Olivia were never as close as they could be, but they still get along. Katherina is rather fond of Olivia and she often serves as a chaperone for her second youngest daughter, Ellory. Sebastian Lestrange Katherina's twin brother. The two were always close, in a brother and sister sort of way and she was very saddened by his death in September of 1882, even if she did judge him for his actions. Anthe Avery One of Katherina's closest female friends, Katherina and Anthe are good friends despite their age difference. Two of Katherina's granchildren are betrothed with two of Anthe's children. Edric Slughorn Edric's bastard, the man who stole pretty much everything from his son. Despite everything, Katherina is still making an attempt to get to know him and make him view her as a friend as, in the end, she thinks that it will benefit her and the family more for them to be friends with him rather than enemies. Lucille Callaghan Before her marriage, Lucille could easily be classed as Katherina's second favourite daughter. She was pretty, clever and Katherina had no doubt that she'd make a notorious socialite, just her like mother. It was her marriage to Aidan Callaghan that ruined it all. Katherina had been sure that a woman like Lucille would be able to bag herself a good husband, someone with a prestigious name, but instead she went for some Callaghan fellow. Katherina never bought that he was truly a pureblood. Ellory Pendergast Katherina's niece. She's also Ellory's godmother. She almost exclusively chaperons Ellory to places and she's really fond of her. Notes & References Category:Characters